Just came back from a couple of weeks touring the coast in the northern half of Ireland. I won't mention the weather or the condition of the roads or (certain) Irish drivers but thought that I'd give some details of our overnight stops in case they are of help to others. Many of these were taken from the Craic Map and a couple should be amended or deleted from the map. If I need to post those details elsewhere let me know.
Day 1: Carrickfergus Aire - a quiet night at the harbour side of the car park. There were half a dozen or so vans in the car park that night. No problems with the infamous boy-racers (although you could hear them off in the distance elsewhere) as there are speed bumps all round the car park. Didn't use the aire facilities as this was our first night.
Day 2: Donaghadee Aire - another quiet night although the car park is quite slopey but there are a couple of fairly flat spots if you can find them. Bit confused by the aire facilities as I didn't realise the token was for Electricity OR water. Plugged in the electric first only to find that even with 2 tokens there wasn't enough water to fill up. Lesson learned for next time.
Day 3: White Rocks Strand - There is now a No Overnight Parking sign at the top of the access road although there are no signs on the individual car parks. The sign at the top is easy to miss (especially if you are looking somewhere else at the time!) so we spent the night in one of the upper car parks without any bother. A few local walkers gave us a wave - they obviously weren't local councillors out for a stroll!
Day 4: Malin Head (55.36973,-7.38096) - This is the one on the map and a fantastic spot with fabulous views. The little car park and access road have recently been re-tarmaced and is fairly flat. Highly recommended.
Day 5: Fanad Head (55.27598,-7.63874) - The car park up by the lighthouse needs enormous chocks so we stayed overnight on a patch of waste ground just by the corner at the co-ordinates shown. This looks almost like a car park but is probably private ground so I'm not sure if we should have stayed there. That said a couple of tractors came in and out dumping loads and nobody said anything. As long as you keep the access clear it seems to be okay and it is a nice, flat, spot well out of sight of any nearby habitation.
Day 6: Dungloe Caravan Park - Time for an empty out/refill and recharging of the camera batteries. Nice little site at 23 euros including electric.
Day 7: The plan was to stay at Belleek Marina shown on the Map but there is now a 2 metre height barrier preventing access so this should really come off the map. Best alternative we could find was a fair old drive away at Magho Mooring Waterway. This is much better than the quite sloping car parks nearby and was a nice secluded spot well out of sight of anyone. In the morning however a huge tractor came down with earth moving equipment on the back intent on ploughing up the access road! He didn't say anything but waited considerately for us to depart before going about his business. It looks like he may have been readying the road for tarmac (not sure why as it doesn't actually go anywhere) so it would be useful if someone local could pop down there to see if the spot is still available.
Day 8: Downpatrick Head - Another on the map and a fantastic, fantastic, overnight spot. Nice big car park, quite slopey although there is one spot where you can get fairly level. Stunning views and. possibly, our best overnight.
Day 9: Doohoma (54.07161,-9.96256) - This one is not on the map but deserves to be. A lovely spot right by the beach with a couple of picnic tables and plenty of off-road parking. A few locals came down in the evening and the following morning to walk their dogs or pillage stuff from the beach but we were not bothered. Well away from the local habitation and a lovely spot.
Day 10: Keel Sandybanks Caravan Site - Another pit stop. Plenty of facilities if you need them and a quiet site. We would, maybe, have camped wild up the beach if we didn't need the top-up/empty-out.
Day 11: Killary Harbour - On the map and plenty of space. There is a new car park at the top where we stopped initially but is quite close to the road so we dropped right down to where the boat trips depart. The trips had finished for the day and the first one was not until 10:30. Since we were away by 08:30 we saw no-one and had a very quiet night in County Galway looking over to County Mayo.
Day 12: The plan tonight was to stop at the car park in Roundstone that is shown on the map but there is now a sign there saying No Overnight Parking and - quite specifically - No Motorhomes so this one needs to come off the map. Since we were heading for Galway we went on to the Tir na Nog pub where we were graciously granted a stay in their large car park. Would have returned the favour with a meal there but the bar maid said they had stopped doing food. Wasn't sure if she meant just that night (about 7pm on a Saturday) or if they have stopped doing food altogether. Had to make do with half a Guinness instead.
Day 13: Lowtown Marina - Heading to Dublin for the day and this was the closest we could find for free - about 45 minutes drive from the city so no bother if you start early. A good, level, spot alongside the canal and another quiet night. Drove into Dublin and parked for the day at Connolly Station which is only a 20 minute stroll to the city centre, The bays there are only really suitable for smaller motorhomes (ours is 5.6 metres) and there are only a few single bays round the edges. There is supposed to be CCTV and regular patrols but there were a few patches of broken window glass around and I definitely wouldn't want to leave a van there outside daylight hours.
Day 14: Howth - Nothing much to say really. Half a dozen vans there on the night we stayed.
Day 15: Lumpers Bar, Ballymakellett - Another nice pub with gracious hosts granting a free night. Would have been quiet save for a bus load and several car loads of eager ramblers turning up mid evening! They returned in dribs and drabs until dark but thereafter we had the place to ourselves.
Day 16: Donaghadee Aire - Back to Donaghadee for our last night before the ferry. This time we worked out how to fill up before switching on the electric!
I hope some of this will be useful to others and let me know if I need to post something elsewhere to get the map amended.
We'll be back next year to do the southern half from Galway round the coast to Dublin so any suggestions for good overnights or good pit stops would be welcome.
Day 1: Carrickfergus Aire - a quiet night at the harbour side of the car park. There were half a dozen or so vans in the car park that night. No problems with the infamous boy-racers (although you could hear them off in the distance elsewhere) as there are speed bumps all round the car park. Didn't use the aire facilities as this was our first night.
Day 2: Donaghadee Aire - another quiet night although the car park is quite slopey but there are a couple of fairly flat spots if you can find them. Bit confused by the aire facilities as I didn't realise the token was for Electricity OR water. Plugged in the electric first only to find that even with 2 tokens there wasn't enough water to fill up. Lesson learned for next time.
Day 3: White Rocks Strand - There is now a No Overnight Parking sign at the top of the access road although there are no signs on the individual car parks. The sign at the top is easy to miss (especially if you are looking somewhere else at the time!) so we spent the night in one of the upper car parks without any bother. A few local walkers gave us a wave - they obviously weren't local councillors out for a stroll!
Day 4: Malin Head (55.36973,-7.38096) - This is the one on the map and a fantastic spot with fabulous views. The little car park and access road have recently been re-tarmaced and is fairly flat. Highly recommended.
Day 5: Fanad Head (55.27598,-7.63874) - The car park up by the lighthouse needs enormous chocks so we stayed overnight on a patch of waste ground just by the corner at the co-ordinates shown. This looks almost like a car park but is probably private ground so I'm not sure if we should have stayed there. That said a couple of tractors came in and out dumping loads and nobody said anything. As long as you keep the access clear it seems to be okay and it is a nice, flat, spot well out of sight of any nearby habitation.
Day 6: Dungloe Caravan Park - Time for an empty out/refill and recharging of the camera batteries. Nice little site at 23 euros including electric.
Day 7: The plan was to stay at Belleek Marina shown on the Map but there is now a 2 metre height barrier preventing access so this should really come off the map. Best alternative we could find was a fair old drive away at Magho Mooring Waterway. This is much better than the quite sloping car parks nearby and was a nice secluded spot well out of sight of anyone. In the morning however a huge tractor came down with earth moving equipment on the back intent on ploughing up the access road! He didn't say anything but waited considerately for us to depart before going about his business. It looks like he may have been readying the road for tarmac (not sure why as it doesn't actually go anywhere) so it would be useful if someone local could pop down there to see if the spot is still available.
Day 8: Downpatrick Head - Another on the map and a fantastic, fantastic, overnight spot. Nice big car park, quite slopey although there is one spot where you can get fairly level. Stunning views and. possibly, our best overnight.
Day 9: Doohoma (54.07161,-9.96256) - This one is not on the map but deserves to be. A lovely spot right by the beach with a couple of picnic tables and plenty of off-road parking. A few locals came down in the evening and the following morning to walk their dogs or pillage stuff from the beach but we were not bothered. Well away from the local habitation and a lovely spot.
Day 10: Keel Sandybanks Caravan Site - Another pit stop. Plenty of facilities if you need them and a quiet site. We would, maybe, have camped wild up the beach if we didn't need the top-up/empty-out.
Day 11: Killary Harbour - On the map and plenty of space. There is a new car park at the top where we stopped initially but is quite close to the road so we dropped right down to where the boat trips depart. The trips had finished for the day and the first one was not until 10:30. Since we were away by 08:30 we saw no-one and had a very quiet night in County Galway looking over to County Mayo.
Day 12: The plan tonight was to stop at the car park in Roundstone that is shown on the map but there is now a sign there saying No Overnight Parking and - quite specifically - No Motorhomes so this one needs to come off the map. Since we were heading for Galway we went on to the Tir na Nog pub where we were graciously granted a stay in their large car park. Would have returned the favour with a meal there but the bar maid said they had stopped doing food. Wasn't sure if she meant just that night (about 7pm on a Saturday) or if they have stopped doing food altogether. Had to make do with half a Guinness instead.
Day 13: Lowtown Marina - Heading to Dublin for the day and this was the closest we could find for free - about 45 minutes drive from the city so no bother if you start early. A good, level, spot alongside the canal and another quiet night. Drove into Dublin and parked for the day at Connolly Station which is only a 20 minute stroll to the city centre, The bays there are only really suitable for smaller motorhomes (ours is 5.6 metres) and there are only a few single bays round the edges. There is supposed to be CCTV and regular patrols but there were a few patches of broken window glass around and I definitely wouldn't want to leave a van there outside daylight hours.
Day 14: Howth - Nothing much to say really. Half a dozen vans there on the night we stayed.
Day 15: Lumpers Bar, Ballymakellett - Another nice pub with gracious hosts granting a free night. Would have been quiet save for a bus load and several car loads of eager ramblers turning up mid evening! They returned in dribs and drabs until dark but thereafter we had the place to ourselves.
Day 16: Donaghadee Aire - Back to Donaghadee for our last night before the ferry. This time we worked out how to fill up before switching on the electric!
I hope some of this will be useful to others and let me know if I need to post something elsewhere to get the map amended.
We'll be back next year to do the southern half from Galway round the coast to Dublin so any suggestions for good overnights or good pit stops would be welcome.
